Generating IBM MQ trace on Windows

Answer

Multiple Installations

IBM MQ V8.0 and WebSphere MQ V7.1 and later support multiple installations on a single Linux or UNIX system, which can coexist with a previous installation of WebSphere MQ V7.0.1.6 or later. Each installation has its own independent trace commands, so you must be careful to trace the right installation.

For example, if you are tracing a queue manager or application associated with Installation1, then you must use the setmqenv command to switch to Installation1 before running any of the commands to start, stop, or format traces. Otherwise, your trace will capture no useful information.

You can even trace two or more installations simultaneously. Be sure to stop tracing in all installations to avoid filling up your disk or affecting system performance.

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Generating Traces

1. If your system has IBM MQ V8.0 or WebSphere MQ V7.1 or later, source the setmqenv command to set your environment for the installation you want to trace. It doesn't matter which copy of setmqenv you use, but the arguments to setmqenv are important. For example:



Setting your environment for the installation with queue manager QMA


C:\> "C:\Program Files\IBM\MQ\bin\setmqenv" -m QMA



Setting your environment installation Installation2


C:\> "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\WebSphere MQ_1\bin\setmqenv" -n Installation2




2. Start tracing with the strmqtrc command. For all releases except WebSphere MQ V6.0, the parameters passed to strmqtrc control which processes will generate trace files and what kinds of data they will trace. You can run multiple traces with different parameters at the same time, if necessary. For example:



Starting a default detail trace of queue manager QMA


C:\> strmqtrc -m QMA



Starting a default detail trace of queue manager QMB with no message data included


C:\> strmqtrc -m QMB -d 0



Starting an API trace of processes named amqsput with all message data included


C:\> strmqtrc -t api -p amqsput -d all



Starting a high detail trace of everything with files that wrap at 100MB


C:\> strmqtrc -e -t all -t detail -l 100



If you are running WebSphere MQ V6.0, trace always includes all processes. However, you can control what data each process will trace and whether the trace files will wrap:



Starting a V6.0 default detail trace


C:\> strmqtrc



Starting a V6.0 high detail trace with no message data and files that wrap at 100MB


C:\> strmqtrc -t all -t detail -d 0 -l 100




3. Reproduce the problem while tracing is active, making every attempt to keep the trace as short as possible. On Windows systems there is a process called amqztrcn which runs when tracing is active, but IBM MQ V8.0 WebSphere MQ V7.0 and later also provides the following command to check the trace status:



Checking the trace status


C:\> strmqtrc -s




4. As soon as the problem has occurred, stop tracing immediately! If you wait to stop the trace, the data IBM Support needs may be lost or overwritten. For all releases except WebSphere MQ V6.0, you can stop all traces at once, or you can stop each trace individually:



Stopping all traces in an installation


C:\> endmqtrc -a



Stopping a trace of queue manager QMA


C:\> endmqtrc -m QMA



Stopping a trace of processes named amqsput


C:\> endmqtrc -p amqsput



If you are running WebSphere MQ V6.0, the command takes no parameters and stops all tracing:



Stopping all V6.0 trace


C:\> endmqtrc




5. The trace files generated by IBM MQ on Windows are readable text files (except AMQ.SSL.TRC and AMQ.SSL.TRC.1, if present) and do not need to be formatted. If you are running WebSphere MQ V7.0 or earlier, the traces are written to the "trace" subdirectory wherever WebSphere MQ is installed. For IBM MQ V8.0 and WebSphere MQ V7.1 or later, the traces are written to the "trace" subdirectory under the path given by the MQ_DATA_PATH environment variable. For systems with IBM MQ V8.0 only, this directory may be located under C:\ProgramData, which is a hidden by default on Windows. After running setmqenv, you can find the location of the trace directory by running:



Finding the trace directory in IBM MQ V8.0 and WebSphere MQ V7.1 and later


C:\> echo "%MQ_DATA_PATH%\trace"




6. IBM MQ V8.0, WebSphere MQ V7.5 or later, V7.1.0.1 or later, and V7.0.1.8 or later provide the runmqras command to collect your IBM MQ traces and other data by specifying the "trace" section name. If the traces are very large, you may need to use the "-workdirectory" option to package the files in a directory with plenty of free space. If you are running an older version of WebSphere MQ, zip up the traces manually before sending them to IBM. For example, to collect data about queue manager QMA for your IBM Problem Management Record 12345,67R,890 run:



Using runmqras to collect IBM MQ traces and other data


C:\> runmqras -section trace,defs,cluster -pmrno 12345,67R,890 -qmlist QMA -workdirectory D:\TEMP



7. Save a copy of the trace files as long as you are working with IBM support, but keep them somewhere other than the trace directory. Clean up the trace directory to reclaim space and also to make sure you are ready to generate new traces in future, if necessary. For example:



Cleaning up the trace directory


C:\> CD "%MQ_DATA_PATH%\trace"
C:\ProgramData\IBM\MQ\trace> DEL AMQ*.TRC AMQ*.TRS

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Additional Information

• Using runmqras to collect data from IBM MQ V8.0, WebSphere MQ V7.5 and later, V7.1.0.1 or later, and V7.0.1.8 or later